Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-03-20

m u
THE GoSsIPs.
What's she says the matter with her?'
asked Katy Tringle, Mis- SimkinS' gossip.
Kate stretched out her long neck to hear.
Hush. Sometimes she cOnceits she's
got a needle in her foot and it's rppnin' all
over over her. Then she hoSls with
shOotin' pains up the spine OF her back.
Sometimes she cOnCeitS she senses a man
under her bed. Then she raises the house
in the middle of the night"
"Thep say sh's got four kinds Of sick
ness 10 wunSt," remarked Katy.
"Yes, everybody that sets foot in the
house has got to 90 and hear about her
lungs. It's going to carry her off with the
g%allOpin' consumption before spring, she
| tells folks. Then she coughs a couch like
she was holler from her heels up. But old
Madame Frenchy who tends her says she
never coughs none at night. Her hand is
as plump us a baby's and she weighs more
than Shirley"
1--WE herrd she can't walk, or feed her
self without help" continued Katy.
That's another of her notions ScOrn-
fully retorted Mis- Simpkins. 'She senses
she can't turn herself over. Every time
she wants to he moved, she schrecches for
some of 'em to come and lift her. Blu she
can turn herself over fast enough If she
thinks nObody's lOOkin'. 1t takes her half
a minnit TO put every bite O victualS into
her mouth. She prctendS to think she's
got chalk in her iintS, and They've got
brittle and break if they're moved oneX-
pected. She crooks her fingers that Ow
when anyhody's lookin', till you'd think
it wa a funeral waitin' tor the corpse's
cousins to take their leave. But when Mad
anne French tells her what q purity white
hand she's got, and what slim knuckles-
she does it o purpose 10 try her, old Mis-
Frenchy does lsh's smart enough, | war'nt
yel-then she iUrgetS herself ~tee'tOel, she
does, and lifts her hands and limbers her
fingers out an out like pianna playin'.
You can say what you please, but them
kind o rheumatic I've got my opinions of. y
Mis- Simpkins shut her Jaws with q snap
like a steel trap and ceased. Katy Tringle
took mp the narrative.
The ~reighbors says she got nigh onto a
bar'l o doctor books, and she reads EN- all
day, studyin' out what she call her symp-
tins. She'd better be readin' her Bible and
maxim her peace with her God and her
neighborS. if she's goin' to do 50 fast.
Katy Tringle stretched out her neck and
gave q hiss not unlike 4 defiant goose. In-
deed, both in appearance Il mental quail
iications, Miss Tringle reSembled somewhat
thar invaluable domestic bird. The hiss
SET Mis- Simpkins going again.
YES, she says the doctors don't under
stand her case at ALL" says she. "Dr.
Pumpkins they've rowsted out 4 dozen in
the night TO 90 out there cause Mis- Car
stone wouldn't live till mOrnin'. Last
night they sent fur he iiStnaturally up and
wouldn't 90. | heerd every word they said
myself, right next door TO the doctors shop.
He told EN- he WAS too tired to 30 any
where, and he wouldn't 90 to see his own
mother-in-law that night
Again this little Mis- SimpkinS shut her
mOut with a snap like a steel trap.
Again the old maid prompted her, and
again set her going.
Mis- CarStone amt no more the same
oma she WIS when he wa a Twin than
il she'd turned into q prOkypine. She's
rs cross as pizen. If they go agin her the
least mOssel she threatens the children she's
agoin Ia die, and tells EN- they'll be sorry
after she's dead. But she'll be alvin
after YOU and mes laid ont OF u coOln'
boards, you mark
Which was quite true. Mis- Simpkins
summed mp in a fiual guSh OF emphatic
opinion:
"She goes 4 nag, nag, naggin' from
mornin' till night, and nobOdy'S got 4
mint peace in the house. Lord. Lord.
If | had her, I'd take the kinks out OF
her.
Then She shut her jaws with a snap
which was plainly to close out.
The village goSsips' diagnosis was only
too correct. To this hopeless state pretty,
gentle, Mrs. Carstone had brought herself,
simply by giving way to her emotions, and
coddliug her little ailments. The process
Is not a dificdlt one for ANYBODY.
Shirley's way was not a path of roses,
turn which way she would. The question
of money Damaging work had beset her
sorely, but a beginning had been made to-
ward settling that. The ever present Mis-
Simpkins opened her mouth and decided
the matter. She said to the squire:
Whats the use of maxim Sich 4 TODD
about a Sc~hOOlmaster, when there's one
right under yOur noses Give the school
To Shirley CarStOne. She can write and
indite and cipher rs good as the PTeSbyte-
rian minister hiSSelf, if she is n female. She
amt no great shakes in years, but she'll
come o. that, if she's let alone. Most OF
ut does
So it came about that Shirley found her
self in the place the master had filled She
had taken the work that lay nearest. \
dreary. distressed life she led ut first. In
her disappOintmentand ineNperience, death
yonld have been eaSier-tar easier, indeed.
On this sullen, rainy autumn evening
she had gone home from her school and
summoned up all her courage, all her phi
losophv, TO meet the situation. Harry, the
Youngest little boy, WAS dangerously i'll.
That afternoon was a question OF his life
or death. Her mother was 80 overcome
that she went from one fainting Lit into an
other. Between her calls for hot and cold
water and raspberry vinegar and smelling
salts, and her being constantly moved, she
mad kept the household on the trOt for
hours. The sound of her peevish groanings
was still in Shirley's ears As she passed
into the room where baby Harry lay. A
look of joy lighted his white little face as
he saw the strong, tall sister, He lifted
his wasted arms feebly about her neck and
moaned:
''Help Harry, Shirley"
She lifted the mite OF a body in herarms,
and walkei hack and forth, soothing the
child.
"You had better let him die, MademOi-
selle," said old Madam Frenchy. He will
be better of. If de die o he will 20 to